


stole his heart

by CrazyMarvelSuperfamily



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Fluff, POV James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is a Good Dad, Tooth Rotting Fluff, super lighthearted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 20:17:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14838488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyMarvelSuperfamily/pseuds/CrazyMarvelSuperfamily
Summary: Tony and Peter have forgotten about the Charity ball evening they promised they'd attend. As usual, Rhodey has to drag the pair out of Tony's lab.





	stole his heart

**Author's Note:**

> so, I was really happy with the response I got for this on Tumblr, so I'm just gonna post it up here too.   
> Tumblr is the same name as here - crazymarvelsuperfamily and is dedicated to our precious Peter Parker and his Dad

The AC/DC music was blasting from below. Rhodey could feel the floor shaking from the instant he arrived at the compound. He rolled his eyes; _the boys were down in the lab again messing around._ He guessed they completely forgot about the charity evening Tony promised they’d attend. Although this would never surprise him, he always hoped for the day when Tony would turn up to an event on time and leave that damn workshop for just a couple of hours. A few years back, he would have been worried about Tony, knowing that he was spending too long down in his lab; but now, it brought a smile to his face. He knew his friend wasn’t alone down there anymore, drinking himself to death in a hole of reckless self-pity.

 

Now he had Peter with him, Tony was a changed man. He still spent days at a time down in the workshop, but instead, he spent it with Peter. Hours would pass by with the pair tinkering away at some science project, or working on equations, or even just doing math homework. Peter was the best thing that could have happened to Tony, and he came into his life at just the right time. The boy crept into the frozen heart the man had forgotten was there and thawed it completely. Rhodey might even go as far as to say Tony was getting soft. He was there for the kid whenever he needed, he picked the boy up from school, helped him with his homework, even cooked the occasional meal. The man had finally remembered how to love someone properly and had devoted his life to caring for his adopted son. More importantly, he realised how much Peter needed him in his life and started to live up to his responsibilities: he actually slept at least a couple of hours each night, he started to eat in a fairly healthy manner, and he had finally quit the destructive binge drinking. Rhodey was proud of his Tony. And he hadn’t been proud of his best friend in a long time.

 

 

The music grew louder as he walked down the spiral staircase to the lab. _How on earth can anyone sane work with this racket?_ He thought as noise from the speakers was literally close to defening before he remembered: _Tony most definitely was not sane… and neither was the kid that runs around Queens in spandex for that matter._ He punched in the code for the lab and the glass doors slid open. He almost double took when he first saw the duo in the lab with their backs to him. Both of them were wearing oily stained jeans and t-shirts. Tony was bare-foot while the kid wore ironman bed socks, each with a pencil behind their ear and Peter had a spanner in hand as a microphone. They were jamming out as they worked; Tony working his hips as he fiddled with the engine of a car, and Peter theatrically handing parts and equipment when prompted. At the back, one of the ironman suits was playing the air guitar. _Oh man would the others pay to see this!_ Rhodey stifled a laugh as he got out his phone and videoed the pair for a few seconds.

“Hey FRIDAY, turn down the music please”

“apologies Colonel Rhodes, but I cannot hear you above the noise.”

“THEN TURN IT _DOWN!!_ ” screamed Rhodey. Suddenly the music dropped to a much more reasonable level. “thanks.” He replied to the AI, instantly more composed.

“Aww Underoos, Uncle Rhodey has come to spoil the fun.” Tony joked as he and peter turned simultaneously and pouted.

“You two have grown so similar it’s frightening.” Rhodey grinned at Peter. “I really wouldn’t plan on taking after Tony much more – if you’re not careful you might develop his ego, then your head would be too big to fit into your funky spandex outfit.”

“Dude, I’ve already said – _they’re nanoparticles_ not spandex!” Peter pouted harder, slightly embarrassed by the comment. Rhodey shoved the kid playfully before fluffing up his soft brown curls.

“I know kid, I’m only messing. Tony, d’ya mind telling me what time it is?”

“Ugh, like 8?” Tony scratched his head. He knew he was probably meant to be ready for some party he promised to show his face at.

“Yeah, and what time did you say you’d be ready for Happy to take us all to the charity gala ball?”

“balls” Peter mumbled under his breath. He knew Tony never bothered about being punctual for events, but Peter was always a bit nervous and preferred to arrive on time. Normally, he would be the one to tell Tony to get ready, but he had been so completely absorbed into the lab work this evening, he had completely forgotten.

“Yeah kid. The ball. Well, the correct answer was 7:30. Now, you guys, shower _quickly_ , meaning no more singing. And into your suits please. I’ve taken the liberty to lay out a tux for each of you in your rooms.

“well, _aren’t you a saint.”_ Tony sighed, putting down the blowtorch he was holding and sauntering off to the elevator.

“FRIDAY, get Dunce over there to clean up this mess please. And Underoos, get a move on, Uncle Rhodey is worried that if we don’t get to wherever we’re meant to be by midnight we will all turn into pumpkins again.”

“Coming Tony, but when have we turned into pumpkins before?” The kid jogged to catch up with Tony, approaching the elevator. Rhodey smiled to himself, seeing how the kid looked up to Tony. He really was the kid’s hero.

 

 

“Awwwwww! Look at you Underoos, don’t you brush up well.” About 15 minutes later Rhodey was dragging everyone to the car where Happy had been waiting impatiently for almost an hour. Tony pinched Peter’s cheeks, which were glowing bright red in embarrassment.

“Tony! Stop!” Peter laughed as his almost tamed hair was getting fluffed up again. “I just brushed that. It’s always so curly, and you messing it up all the time is not helping its cause!”

“I know kid, but I like the curls – they’re cute!”

The car journey lasted about half an hour. Rhodey passed Tony a few note cards with a hastily written speech scrawled on them. “Hey, please try and follow them for once – you really don’t need to do anything but thank the charity heads for their work and give a brief life update for the media.”

Tony nodded tucking the cards into his jacket, making a mental note to chuck them at the first bin he came across. “Yeah, yeah Rhodey, I know the deal – have been dealing with this all my life and stuff…”

“you still never follow the cards…” Rhodey shook his head, knowing he was trying to fight a battle that had been lost long ago.

“Oh, and kid, you know the deal – don’t leave the venue, no drinking, no smoking or drugs, and please leave this party as a virgin.” Tony laughed as Peter’s eyes widened and he flushed crimson.

“um… Tony, I wouldn’t… do…” Peter shifted uncomfortably.

“I know Underoos, its just funny watching you being embarrassed. I’m just messin’. Though saying that, I am dead serious – you will be in trouble if you do any of the above.”

 

They eventually pulled up at a large building, where the party was obviously taking place. People in their evening attire were scattered around the outside, taking in the beauty of the gardens at dusk. Through the huge windows and open doors, Rhodey could see there were probably thousands of people gathered for the gala evening. He glanced over at the kid and felt bad for him: he wasn’t a fan of these kinds of events – he always found himself much too socially awkward and going everywhere with Tony Stark always drew a lot of unwanted attention. The evening air was muggy, and Peter looked awkward and panicked as he stepped out of the car. Tony put his hands on the boy’s shoulders from behind and steered him towards the door.

 

It was only a matter of seconds before the press swarmed them, pointing microphones into their faces, bombarding them with questions. This had happened to Peter on several occasions before – some as Spiderman and some just as Peter when he was with Tony, but he still wasn’t used to it. Even Rhodey’s head was spinning wildly as he tried to compute all the voices interrogating him, he had no idea what hell the kid had to be going through. He heard the endless clicking of cameras, as all the papers and magazines tried desperately to snap a photo of the world’s most famous engineer and the boy he mysteriously adopted. Tony stepped in front of the boy, shielding him from the journalists and speeding up, trying to lead Peter inside as fast as possible. Rhodey followed behind, repeating over and over that none of the group wanted to answer questions regarding either personal or professional life and would they please be courteous and respect privacy. They reached the entrance, where the professional TV crews were covering the evening. They all forced smiles and waved briefly as they quickly disappeared into the building.

 

Within five minutes of arriving at the party, Tony disappeared off into the amass of people and Rhodey guessed they wouldn’t really see him for the rest of the evening. Rhodey knew that although he had matured a lot in recent years, Tony still partied hard, and it was best to keep Peter away from a partying Tony. So, Peter spent most of the evening with Rhodey. Despite his usual rocky start, for once the kid seemed to be enjoying himself a lot more. Rhodey guess the kid felt a little more at home at an event celebrating a generous donation to a physics society – friendlier people, and lots of scientists and mathematicians. He introduced himself to the important faces of the charity and spoke briefly with Rhodey’s friends regarding some of his recent works with Tony in the lab. Without giving any key details away, he outlined how they were working to further increase the power of the arc reactor and how its purposes can be used in a wider range of things as the building cost is ever decreasing. _Actually, the kid isn’t half bad at the party scene – Tony was never this good at small talk._ A few journalists were dotted around the hall, but Peter generally managed to avoid them. He eventually snuck off to hang around the buffet table, planning to just eat his way through the evening. At one point, someone gave Peter a pint of cider, he had barely started to sip it before Tony swept in and removed it from his hands. Rhodey couldn’t help but laugh, seeing Tony for the first time that evening, the second Peter gets his hands on some alcohol.

“what did I say about drinking?”

“I haven’t seen you in more than two hours! How on earth do you swoop in like that the second I start to break a rule?”

“I have my secrets…” Tony slurred, evidently drunk.

“If you put FRIDAY into my watch I swear to God”

“language… you’re getting pretty fucking close… wait shit!” _yup, Tony was pissed_.

“Hey Tony, I really think you’re the one that should lay off the booze a little?” Peter reasoned, ever looking like a lost puppy.

“Not a chance kiddo…” Tony shook his head, then suddenly in a much soberer fashion, “You ready to go home kid? I think it’s probably about time – you’re looking a little peaky.” He cupped the boy’s cheek as Peter nodded. “M’kay, Imma get Happy to take you back to the Tower. I’ll be home before 3… or maybe 5… I dunno, at some point before your breakfast… I love you kid”

“Love you too Tony, see you in the morning.” Peter whispered as Tony pulled him into a close hug.

 

Tony had never said “I love you” before to Peter, or to anyone before really, for that matter. And maybe Peter had brushed it off, recognising Tony was drunk, but Rhodey watched the two, and he knew that Tony really meant what he said.


End file.
